Fort Duffield Park and Historic Site is a 175-acre resource in North Hardin County, Kentucky. Once part of the Fort Knox Installation, the land was transferred to the City of West Point in 1978 through the National Park Service Lands to Parks Program for public recreation.

The historic site—Kentucky’s largest and best-preserved Civil War earthen fortification—sits high atop Pearman Hill, 300 feet above the City of West Point. The fort is a Kentucky Landmark and part of the Civil War Discovery Trail.

West Point and Fort Duffield played an important role during the American Civil War in late 1861 and throughout 1862. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman ordered fortifications built at the Mouth of Salt River for several reasons. Once neutrality in Kentucky was broken, the training and movement of Union troops began with great urgency.

It was crucial that the Union Army maintain control of the rivers and roads in the area so that troops and supplies could be moved. Supplies from Louisville were sent by steamboat on the Ohio River and offloaded onto wagons at West Point. The wagons transported much-needed supplies to training camps and troops further south.

Beginning in the fall of 1861, regiments from Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Michigan stopped at West Point on their way south. At first, troops were ferried across the Salt River from Jefferson County into Hardin County. Once Army Engineers arrived, a pontoon bridge was installed.

The 9th Michigan Volunteer Infantry is credited with the construction of the fort. Before leaving West Point, they also built a wooden bridge across the Salt River for supply and troop movements, which proved invaluable.

In early spring of 1862, brigades of Union troops were ordered to West Point to embark on steamboats down the Ohio River. Brig. Gen. William “Bull” Nelson, a Kentucky native, departed West Point with his 4th Division in February 1862. In March, the 9th Michigan left with the 23rd Brigade under Col. William W. Duffield.

President Lincoln believed he must hold Kentucky to save the Union. Fort Duffield’s strategic location above the confluence of the Salt and Ohio Rivers allowed the Union to control both waterways. Since the railroad did not run through West Point at the time, Sherman recognized the importance of securing a land route for the movement of troops and supplies.

A fort at West Point ensured control of the rivers and kept land and water routes open for the Union Army, while protecting Louisville from any Confederate forces attempting to use those same routes.

After the Battle of Perryville in the fall of 1862, the war moved south. The artillery and munitions at Fort Duffield were ordered returned to Louisville in December 1862, and the fort was left undisturbed except for occasional guerrilla raids.

This impregnable fortress, towering 300 feet above West Point, was never challenged. Yet its strategic position played a vital role in the Civil War in Kentucky.

Fort Duffield Heritage Committee
City of West Point, Kentucky